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Tusk voices solidarity with Greece ahead of EU refugee summit

Xinhua, March 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Council President Donald Tusk voiced solidarity with Greece on the management of its growing refugee crisis during a visit here on Thursday ahead of the EU summit next Monday.

"We will not abandon Greece," Tusk stressed in a joint press conference after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, adding unilateral initiatives by European countries were undermining the Union's spirit of cooperation to resolve problems.

The top EU official's words came a day after the European Commission cleared an additional 700 million euros (763.45 million U.S. dollars) humanitarian aid program for Greece and other EU states to help deal with the massive refugee influx.

Tusk sent a message to economic migrants to stop risking their lives to cross over the Aegean Sea to arrive in Europe. "Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the traffickers," he said.

Tsipras reassured that Greece "will do its best" to offer assistance to refugees and requested more support from EU partners to create more hospitality centers. He added his government would not allow Greece to become "a warehouse of souls."

Tsipras requested all European countries share the burden through the relocation program, calling for closer collaboration with Turkey to stem the refugee flows.

According to a statement by the Greek leader's office on Thursday, Tsipras held a telephone conversation on the monitoring of the refugee influx with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu ahead of the EU-Turkey summit that will be held on March 7 in Brussels.

The Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Melvut Cavusoglu is due to visit Athens on Friday ahead of the summit, while Tusk will be in Turkey to wrap up his tour across several capitals over the past few days to discuss the refugee crisis.

The situation at the northern borders of Greece with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has been dramatic with some 10,000 refugees remaining stranded for almost two weeks after the closures of borders in Austria and several Balkan states.

Hundreds held a sit-in protest on the rail tracks near the Idomeni border crossing on Thursday. Enditem